V2Ch96 New Door

It took her a while but she calmed down.

"Your arm. Does it hurt?"

Her voice told me that she was still bothered.

"I'm fine. As soon as I stand up it will heal pretty quick."

"Oh!"

She got up fast. She started to try to find an appropriate way to help me up but, she was unsure of the best way to do so. I held out my hand.

"Nothing special to it."

She grabbed my hand and I pulled myself up. My shoulder was covered in blood. The wound was already starting to heal.

"Are you okay? You had me scared there for a moment."

"I... I'm scared of falling. It's nyot a fear of heights. I'm scared of falling with someone else. I can control my fall by myself. I can't do that with anyuther. It's frightening because I don't knyow how I will land. I could get hurt or..."

"I get it."

"Nya think it's stupid. Don't nya?"

"Not at all. Everyone has fears. Yours is more reasonable than a lot of fears that people have."

"Nya don't have any fears."

"Oh no. I have one thing that I fear above all."

She looked at me expectantly.

"Seeing someone that I care about getting hurt. I can heal. It's no big deal if I lose an arm or a leg. If someone like you or my wife, Sophie, were to lose a limb? I wouldn't know what to do. I'd be freaking out. Anyone else could die of blood loss, infections, poison, getting stabbed in the wrong place. Mortality is scary when the people you care about are the most susceptible to it."

I smiled as best I could.

"It would devastate me if I were to lose you. That's what I fear most."

"Lake..."

She hugged me. My left shoulder wasn't quite done healing so I only hugged her back with my right arm.

My shirt was bloody. I decided to toss it into the ravine. I pulled out another shirt from my backpack. It had a massive hole through it. My backpack too. I tried to wipe off as much blood as I could with the other shirt before tossing it as well. I went shirtless.

We began investigating the ledge. To the south, the ledge had collapsed and was impassable. We started following it north.

Babur was bent forward and was looking at me funny while we were walking.

"That was the first time I've heard nya laugh."

"What?"

"When we were running. Nya laughed. It was cute."

That's right. I was having fun.

She straightened up.

"I was really happy, though. Nya."

"I could tell. You were having fun, too."

"No. How nya wanted to help her instead of fight her. It made me really happy. Nya showed me that nya aren't just some bloodthirsty humyan that discovered a power and wanted to use it every chance he got. Nya took her pups into account and decided the best route for her and them. If all nya did was kill every problem that came at nya, I don't think I would stay with nya for very long."

She grabbed hold of my hand and we locked fingers.

"I knyew someone like that back home. They thought that all they had to do was kill, kill, kill through any hardship. My tribe has traditions, trials. Adulthood, marriage and becoming a warrior. This person passed these trials with ease. But, everyone in the tribe saw a darkness in them. Their methods were violent and unnecessary."

She leaned her shoulder against me as she talked.

"There was a fourth trial. One that isn't well knyown. It was a trial that tested one's mind, sanity and desire to kill. This was nyot knyown by the tribe at the time. Only the tribe elders knyew the true purpose. The instructions were to kill and bring back a single hive rabbit. Creatures that are small and weak. If you anger them, they attack in swarms. One may nyot do much damage but, they can tear your flesh down to the bone in seconds if they swarm."

She took a moment to breathe as we shimmied across a narrow ledge.

"The trial was completed by this individual. They killed an entire swarm. They thought that more kills were better. The elders were angry. 'We told nya only a single rabbit. Nya has to respect nature. Nya slew an entire hive. Our ecosystem could shift out of balance.' They told this person. Their lack of compassion and lust for bloodshed got them banished. They are nyot allowed to return."

Somehow I was amused at the thought of an elder speaking like Babur.

"Seeing how nya handle things reminds me of the fourth trial and makes me happy to think that nya would probably pass with ease."

"Yeah, well."

I placed my right hand on her waist and pulled her as close as I could without hindering her walking.

"I've said it before. I've been a part of mass death. I don't like it. I never liked it. I want to try my best to make up for it. If I'm going to live forever then, every little bit of helping others will count for something."

We turned a corner and saw a large stone door ahead. There seemed to be a dwarf guard.

"Look! An exit!"

She nearly shouted. I suddenly became conscious of the fact that my hood was still back at the camp. I still had my black assassin cloak. I dug it out of my backpack to cover myself.

"Come on, Lake!"

"No need to hurry at this point. Let's just take our time."

"Nya? Okay."

We kept our pace. It would just be pure irony if we made it this far, only to fall from a misstep because we ran the last stretch.

"By the way. Back in the tent..."

She put on an evil and mischievous smile.

"Nya called for mommy, didn't nya? I saw the look on your face."

"Mmm. It's not quite what you're thinking."

I still haven't told her about the voices of my emotions.

"Honestly, I was worried about protecting you at first."

Her grin turned to curiosity.

"I don't need protection."

"I know. That's why I smiled afterward. I thought about it and realized that you are strong in your own right. I trusted you to take care of yourself. It was a weight off of my shoulders. You do more for me than you will ever know."

"Nyaaaa."

She snuggled up to my chest, halting our forward momentum. I happily took her in my arms once more. I grabbed her butt and lifted her up. She wrapped her legs around me. I carried her the rest of the way.

I was walking up the final steps to the large doors. A single armored dwarf was standing in front of it. He was half my height and the doors were maybe 40 feet high. No handle was evident.

"Halt. What're you doin' down 'ere?"

"Ah, we weren't looking where we were going and fell. I was lucky to survive. Her, too."

I let Babur down.

"Why'er you dressed like that?"

"The fall ruined our clothes. We just got rid of them. Do you think we could come in? The shelf collapsed further back. There is literally nowhere else to go."

He stared at me. He seemed unconvinced. I guess he is smarter than the shark.

"Tell you what. If you can open one half of this door without help. I'll even take you out for dinner if you can do it."

I heard snickering above. There seemed to be a window above the door. It must be some kind of joke at our expense. I'm pretty sure I can open it.

I lined up in front of the right half of the door. The dwarf could hardly hold in his laughter.

"Ah-ah! One half-door per person. If she wants in, she has to open the other half of the door on her own, too."

I gave Babur a motion with my head to come over. She stood in front of the other door.

The laughter above was no longer simple amusement. They were really laughing at the thought of our failure.

I nodded at Babur once more. I reached out to her. She grabbed my hand and we both pushed each half of the door open as if it only weighed only a few pounds.

We were in a large hall that was nearly empty, aside from a few guards that were surprised that the doors had been opened. I turned to look at the dwarf behind me.

"So. How about that dinner?"

I couldn't help but smile at the look on his face.